Trial and error vs. Inspect and adapt

I recently watched a video on using an agile approach to work in a non-software environment (ABC Nightline - IDEO Shopping Cart). There were a bunch of very cool catch phrases that were used one of which really stuck to mind...

"Enlighten, trial and error succeeds over the planning of the lone genius"

While this is a might be great from a non-development perspective, I don't think that it is quite right from a development perspective. It implies that the group don't really know the direction they're going and that they could get it wrong. This doesn't work for development. The development team should always know the direction they are going otherwise they increase the chance of incurring technical debt. I prefer the well known phrase, Inspect and adapt.

What I do love is the reference to the planning of the lone genius.

A great dig at waterfall! :)